Credit: The Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS — Jacques Villeneuve is ready to make an IndyCar comeback.

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports said Wednesday it has hired Villeneuve to race in this year's Indianapolis 500, 19 years after the Canadian driver first drank the milk in Victory Lane.

"IndyCar is growing again and that's why last year when I started watching races again, every time I watched I felt almost angry I wasn't there," the 1995 race winner said on a satellite hookup from France during a news conference held at the team's Indy headquarters.